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INDIANAPOLIS — Arizona Cardinals general manager Rod Graves made some comments at the NFL scouting combine that should catch the attention of Dolfans.



Graves spoke about three Cardinals the Miami Dolphins could use: receiver Anquan Boldin, linebacker Karlos Dansby and safety Antrel Rolle.



Boldin is under contract, but the Cardinals could trade him.



Graves fielded offers for Boldin last year, but wasn’t motivated to deal him. This offseason should be different. Boldin is entering the final year of his contract and practically has begged the Cardinals to trade him for a year.



“Our approach with Anquan is really the same as it was last year,” Graves said. “We will look at all the options and exploring and ultimately doing what is best for the team. From our perspective, nothing has changed. We still view Anquan as a valuable member of our football team, and we will weigh the options through the offseason and do what is best for our team.”



As for Rolle, the Cardinals are hoping to work out a new contract. He’s due a $4 million roster bonus next week with a base salary of $8.1 million. They might release him instead.



“We’re going to try hard to get a contract in place with him before we have to make a decision about his contract,” Graves said. “If not, we will continue to work with him and treat him as if he is a free agent we are pursuing.



“We’ve always been under the impression Antrel wanted to remain an Arizona Cardinal,” Graves said. “We have been able to develop him and we have seen him develop into an outstanding player and we want to keep that relationship going.



“We’re not looking to lose quality players, but again, all of those decisions have to make sense to us from a team standpoint. Obviously, he is a top priority.”



Dansby’s situation is much different. He will hit free agency on Friday.



Dansby would fill one of the Dolphins’ primary needs at inside linebacker and listed the Dolphins among the handful of teams he would like to play for. He led the Cardinals with 113 tackles and recorded one sack, five tackles for losses, one interception and one forced fumble.



Graves sounded resigned to the fact Dansby would be playing elsewhere in 2010.



“We’d like to have Karlos back as a member of our football team, but it has to be a situation that makes sense for us,” Graves said. “We have a lot of areas to address, and it has to be a situation that fits for us. We can’t keep them all.



“Obviously we will come in with 53 players. I don’t mean to be short about that, but we hope to replace him with equal quality or better.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Arizona Cardinals general manager Rod Graves made some comments at the NFL scouting combine that should catch the attention of Dolfans.



Graves spoke about three Cardinals the Miami Dolphins could use: receiver Anquan Boldin, linebacker Karlos Dansby and safety Antrel Rolle.



Boldin is under contract, but the Cardinals could trade him.



Graves fielded offers for Boldin last year, but wasn’t motivated to deal him. This offseason should be different. Boldin is entering the final year of his contract and practically has begged the Cardinals to trade him for a year.



“Our approach with Anquan is really the same as it was last year,” Graves said. “We will look at all the options and exploring and ultimately doing what is best for the team. From our perspective, nothing has changed. We still view Anquan as a valuable member of our football team, and we will weigh the options through the offseason and do what is best for our team.”



As for Rolle, the Cardinals are hoping to work out a new contract. He’s due a $4 million roster bonus next week with a base salary of $8.1 million. They might release him instead.



“We’re going to try hard to get a contract in place with him before we have to make a decision about his contract,” Graves said. “If not, we will continue to work with him and treat him as if he is a free agent we are pursuing.



“We’ve always been under the impression Antrel wanted to remain an Arizona Cardinal,” Graves said. “We have been able to develop him and we have seen him develop into an outstanding player and we want to keep that relationship going.



“We’re not looking to lose quality players, but again, all of those decisions have to make sense to us from a team standpoint. Obviously, he is a top priority.”



Dansby’s situation is much different. He will hit free agency on Friday.



Dansby would fill one of the Dolphins’ primary needs at inside linebacker and listed the Dolphins among the handful of teams he would like to play for. He led the Cardinals with 113 tackles and recorded one sack, five tackles for losses, one interception and one forced fumble.



Graves sounded resigned to the fact Dansby would be playing elsewhere in 2010.



“We’d like to have Karlos back as a member of our football team, but it has to be a situation that makes sense for us,” Graves said. “We have a lot of areas to address, and it has to be a situation that fits for us. We can’t keep them all.



“Obviously we will come in with 53 players. I don’t mean to be short about that, but we hope to replace him with equal quality or better.”

INDIANAPOLIS — If the Kansas City Chiefs are interested in reuniting Jimmy Clausen with Charlie Weis, his former coach at Notre Dame, the quarterback would be all for it.



Clausen couldn’t stop praising Weis on Saturday when he met the media at the NFL combine. There have been some reports that Kansas City could be tempted to take Clausen. Weis is the Chiefs’ new offensive coordinator.



“He’s a great quarterback coach, one of the best I’ve ever had. He’s probably the smartest coach I’ve ever been around,” Clausen said. “Coach Weis definitely knows what he’s doing. He puts me in a great position to go out there and just play football and make plays.”



Clausen, who said he talked to Washington and Buffalo on Friday night, credits Weis for preparing him for this weekend and beyond.



“I’ve been in coach Weis’ system the past three years. I’m a little familiar with the West Coast system,” Clausen said. “I’ve played under center for the past three years under coach Weis. We’ve been in shotgun, so I’ve been a lot of different variety of offenses.”

INDIANAPOLIS — In the months leading up to Cowboys training camp in ’03, a quality control coach named David Lee helped quarterback Tony Romo overhaul his throwing motion. Bill Parcells had taken one look at the undrafted player out of Eastern Illinois during a May minicamp and declared that he’d have too many passes batted down because of his three-quarter delivery.

Tebow

Romo

Lee, who played quarterback for Vanderbilt in the 1970s when Parcells was the defensive coordinator at the school, told Romo that he should wait until after training camp to make any major changes. Romo was so desperate to make the team that he practically begged Lee to teach him a more orthodox delivery. He would call Lee at 9 in the evening and ask him to meet him at Valley Ranch to work on the new delivery. And we all know the rest of that story.



But as luck would have it, Lee, now the Dolphins’ quarterbacks coach, ended up working with Tim Tebow at the Senior Bowl. On Friday, Tebow stood in front of about 150 reporters and credited Lee for helping lay the foundation for his new delivery. He knows what Lee did for Romo and is now doing for Chad Henne.



“David is one of the best fundamental quarterback coaches anywhere,” Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland told me Thursday. “Tim will take all of what David taught him and know exactly what he needs to work on. I don’t think anyone can truly appreciate how fortunate he was to work with David in Mobile.”



Many of you will recall that it was Lee’s idea to install the Wildcat formation in Miami, which contributed to an amazing turnaround for the Dolphins in ’08. But his expertise is with quarterbacks. Just ask Romo.

INDIANAPOLIS — Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh met with the media Saturday.



Here are some highlights on what Harbaugh had to say:

Harbuagh

• The Baltimore Ravens are interested in signing receiver Derrick Mason for more than one year. Mason, who is pondering retirement, recently said he wouldn’t return on a one-year deal, and it appears that won’t be an issue for the veteran in free agency.

“He’s 36 years old, but he’s not physically,” Harbaugh said. “As long as he can play, we want him to be a Raven.”

• Harbaugh says he’s also impressed by receiver Donte’ Stallworth. Baltimore put Stallworth through a “grueling” workout and surprised the team by how good a shape he was in after more than a year away from football.
• Baltimore seems certain (too certain?) that Pro Bowl safety Ed Reed is coming back to play football in 2010. Reed said he was 50-50 after the team’s playoff loss last month and has yet to provide a verbal commitment. But the Ravens are confident the medical issues will check out fine and, thus, Reed will play at least one more season.

“Ed Reed is playing, as far as I know,” Harbaugh said. “We’ve said this before, I think Ed is one of the greatest competitors in football … I say that I think Ed is going to play, because I think Ed’s going to do everything he can to play.”

• Here is more on receivers: Baltimore is not ruling out signing free-agent receiver Terrell Owens. It’s obvious the Ravens are in desperate need of receivers, and Owens is the biggest unrestricted name available. But if you ask me right now whether Owens will sign in Baltimore, I would lean more toward “no” than “yes.”
• In terms of potential trades, Harbaugh believes running back Willis McGahee will be a Raven next season. In talking about the future of backup quarterback Troy Smith, Harbaugh said he wants to keep Smith but understands his desire to be a starter.

“If something would work out where it’s beneficial to the Ravens first from our perspective, and it gives him a chance to be [a starter] down the road somewhere, we’re interested in doing that,” Harbaugh said. “But Troy is our backup quarterback at this point.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Potential No. 1 overall draft choice Ndamukong Suh is taking his turn with reporters at the NFL combine. The question he’s getting most frequently from the media — and from NFL teams — concerns how well he might function as a pass-rusher after focusing more on team defense at Nebraska.



Suh said he has not yet spoken with the Rams, but there is obviously still time for that. He is handling the media spotlight comfortably even though he said the intensity of interest stood out as the biggest surprise of his combine experience to this point.

INDIANAPOLIS – Jonathan Dwyer believes he was the first running back San Diego interviewed at the NFL combine this week.

Dwyer

The Georgia Tech running back hopes he is the first player San Diego selects in the NFL draft.



San Diego will be looking for at least one running back as it moves away from the LaDainian Tomlinson era. With backup Darren Sproles headed to free agency, San Diego may have to totally revamp. The Chargers will certainly look at running back with the No. 28 pick.



Dwyer is a real possibility.



He said he had a terrific meeting with several of the Chargers’ brass here. He said he had other meetings but none were as involved and as productive as his meeting with San Diego.



“I think they like me and I know I like them,” Dwyer said. “ I really like coach (Norv) Turner. I think it’d be a great fit … They are a power team and I think it really fits what I do.”



San Diego is clearly talking to several running backs this week, but it may be hard pressed to find a player more individually impressive as Dwyer.

INDIANAPOLIS — Rex Ryan didn’t pull any punches while he navigated the New York Jets way beyond expectation, getting within 30 minutes of the Super Bowl.

Ryan

Ryan knows he coaches a marked team.



Now that the Jets have established themselves as a team to beat, some might expect Ryan to tone down his act a little. Maybe he would comport himself more like Bill Belichick and be sure not to make any bold proclamations.



So much for that.



Ryan once again announced the Jets’ presence at the NFL scouting combine on Saturday



“Unfortunately, we can’t jump right back into that AFC Championship Game,” Ryan said. “We are at 0-0 like everybody else. You have to earn your right to get back to where we were.”



Ryan then rattled off much of the Jets’ schedule, which includes cross-division games against the AFC North and NFC North.



“This is going to be one tough schedule, but I can promise you one thing: We are coming after each and every one of those teams with guns a blazing,” Ryan said. “So get ready and strap it up tight because here we come. That is the way we play football and that is the way we will continue to play football.”



In a more intimate meeting with reporters after his news conference, Ryan spoke about wearing the target.



“We’re not going to sneak up on anybody,” Ryan said. “They know with that ground-and-pound philosophy we have, it’s hard not to take that personal. But that’s OK because we’re targeting you also. Regardless of who that team is, they know we’re coming after them; we know they’re coming after us. But we’re OK with that.”